Doctors treating a young driver who survived a crash despite being speared through the chest with a fence post found a four leaf clover stuck to his back.

Raymond Curry, 20, was on his way to work when his Vauxhall Corsa overturned and rolled through a fence into a field near his home in Cramlington, Northumberland, on 13 June.

He was flown to hospital with the post – which by chance had missed all his vital organs – still in his body. Two other posts had pierced his wrecked hatchback, but missed him by inches.

An air freshener from his car, which somehow ended up inside a wound, was later removed.

It was not until he reached hospital that the lucky clover leaf was found on his back.

Before undergoing surgery to remove the stake and part of his bowel, Curry told the Evening Chronicle newspaper that he had felt incredible pain and believed he was going to die. "I know how lucky I am to be alive," he said. "I'd never even seen a four leaf clover until this happened, so it was good timing, I suppose."

Paramedic Jane Peacock was one of the team who treated Curry, who was driving to work at Argos in Alnwick, Northumberland. "By God, he is a very lucky lad," she said. "It gave me a good chuckle when I heard afterwards about the four leaf clover.

"On the scene he was stable but you do not know what is happening internally. I am delighted he has done so well."

She said some of the post was cut away by a fire crew so he could fit in the helicopter. "The fence post had impaled him. He was absolutely remarkable as he was fully conscious."

The paramedic said Curry had even remembered to thank her when he was dropped off at hospital in Newcastle.

Curry now has the clover mounted on his bedroom wall. His family is fundraising for the Great North Air Ambulance.